I Watch Films: House Of The Long Shadows

House Of The Long Shadows

An American novelist has a bet with his publisher that he can write a novel in the style of Wuthering Heights in 24 hours. To get in the mood and escape distraction he goes to a manor house in the Welsh countryside. There he is inevitably interrupted by spooky gothic goings on.

It’s revealed that the family have returned to release the youngest brother, Roderick, who they locked away forty years ago after he got a girl pregnant then killed her. The family is made up of John Carradine, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Sheila Keith. Also there is Christopher Lee for a magnificent collection of classic horror actors, all adding gravitas and presence to the film.

And it needs it. There’s a lot of spooky foreboding nonsense and shifty people telling unreliable stories, which slowly get stripped away to create what is an almost tense atmosphere. Then it becomes a funhouse murder show as people start to be killed off by traps until the killer gets bored and picks up an axe.

The end is not one but two twist/fake-outs, which feels like one too many. There’s even a moral in the epilogue, though it’s a bit contrived as well. Some things to enjoy but ultimately just a rather silly horror that doesn’t take itself seriously.

Watch This: Several classic horror actors, together for the last time, in a classic horror scenario
Don’t Watch This: Commit to the camp gothic horror or don’t, but don’t mess us about like this